Young spend evening hours on smartphones, over-35s on tablets

About half of Canadians' time on the internet is spent on mobile devices, such as tablets or smartphones. (Time Warner Cable Inc./Associated Press)

Almost half of Canadians’ access to the internet is through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, instead of personal computers, according to measurement firm comScore.

While PCs rule our days, mobile devices rule our nights, with smartphone and tablet use peaking in the evening hours.

And that number looks set to grow as Canadians follow the pattern set in the U.S. of spending an increasing amount of time online, streaming video, checking Facebook and reading the news.

As of August, there were about 27.8 million Canadian adults with access to the internet, and they spent an average of almost 39 hours a month browsing the web with a desktop or laptop, comScore reports.

Add time spent on tablets and smartphones, especially during the peak hours of 5 p.m. to midnight, and that amount almost doubles to nearly 75 hours a month.

ComScore measures internet usage through monitoring online habits from a panel of two million internet users who agree to have their online browsing tracked with cookies and other tools. The panel is representative by both age and geography of Canada’s online population as measured by the Print Measurement Bureau.

110 hours a month for Canadians 25 to 34

Canadians in the 25-to-34 demographic are spending the most time online, averaging around 110 hours a month across various devices, more than half of it on a mobile device.

ComScore found 48 per cent of Canadians accessed their internet on more than one device.

The younger demographic is more likely to use smartphones, with 44 per cent of smartphone users aged 18 to 34. About 67 per cent of tablet users are aged 35 to 55. Tablet usage is up 37 per cent since June 2013.

Men access the internet more often, both via browser and apps, but women tend to spend more time each visit.

“Canada is one of the most digitally advanced countries in the world,” said ComScore account manager Paul Rich.

And while Canadians often lag U.S. users in the amount of time spent online, they’re well ahead in adoption of smartphones, with 78 per cent of mobile phone users having smartphones.

Canadians are also big users of streaming video, everything from YouTube and Vimeo to Netflix and streaming television.